MONROE, La -- ULM
(7-17, 5-10) concludes its two-game homestand with Arkansas State (13-12, 10-6) on Saturday afternoon. The Red Wolves took the season's first meeting, 71-58, despite the Warhawks outscoring ASU 36-25 in the second half.

On Thursday, ULM led at half and with 10 seconds left in the game but an untimely
missed free throw led to a Loryn Goodwin three-pointer and a 76-75 North Texas
(10-15, 9-7) win. Alexar Tugler finished with a career-high 20 points but her
half court prayer went unanswered as it just missed off the back of the rim to
give the Mean Green its ninth Sun Belt win.

AROUND THE SUN BELT
Western Kentucky (11-4) kept pace with SBC leading Middle Tennessee (13-2) with a 64-61 win at Florida Atlantic on Wednesday. Alexis Govan led all scorers with 31 points. South Alabama (7-9) cruised past UL-Lafayette (1-14), 53-39, on Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, UALR (9-6) edged Arkansas State (10-6), 54-50, for its sixth straight win. Taylor Ford led the Trojans with 16 points while Jalen O’Bannon scored 16 for the Red Wolves. FIU (10-6) clipped Troy (2-13), 56-39, on Thursday. Jerica Coley leads the country with 25.4 points per game and scored 25 on 9-for-20 shooting in the win. Unofficially, Middle Tennessee, Arkansas State, Western Kentucky, FIU and UALR are the top five seeds for the upcoming SBC Tournament and will receive byes. North Texas, Florida Atlantic, South Alabama, ULM, Troy and UL-Lafayette round out the seeding as of Feb. 15.

A LOOK AT THE WARHAWKS
ULM nearly made it five of six with a narrow, 76-75, loss to North Texas on Thursday night. The Warhawks led at halftime and with 10 seconds remaining but a clutch Loryn Goodwin three-pointer (her seventh of the night) gave the Mean Green a one-point lead and Alexar Tugler’s half court heave hit the back of the rim and bounced out. Alexar Tugler scored a career-high 20 points, 18 of which came in the second half. Simmons had scored in double-figures in 13 straight games before North Texas on Thursday. Alayshia Hunter just missed her first career double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds, matching her career-high. ULM is now 19-16 all-time in overtime games after the win at UL-Lafayette. Alexar Tugler scored 37 points in the two games in Florida (18.5 points per game). The win over Troy on Jan. 10 was the 50th all-time Sun Belt for ULM. Seven Warhawks have led ULM in scoring this season. At #18 Texas on Dec. 11, ULM attempted 41 free throws, it was the first time the squad tallied 40 or more FTs in a single game since Dec. 21, 1999 (W, 66-65 vs. New Orleans). The Warhawk program collected its 600th all-time victory on Saturday at FIU. Mona Martin needs one win for 250 and ULM is three home wins away from 300 inside Fant-Ewing Coliseum.

SCOUTING THE RED WOLVES
Arkansas State will enter Saturday’s game at 10-6 in the Sun Belt and looking at a third seed in the upcoming Sun Belt Tournament. The Red Wolves went on a seven-game winning streak from Jan. 6 to Jan. 30 but have dropped three of their last four games. Most recently, UALR bested Arkansas State, 54-50, on Wednesday. Junior forward Jane Morrill leads the way with 14.9 points per game, which is sixth in the league. Morrill and Carlisha Wyatt are tied for the team lead with 5.8 rebounds per game. Ashley Olvera is third in the conference with 4.0 assists per game. Quinishia McDowell, a Monroe native, has started every game this season for the Red Wolves. Head Coach Brian Boyer (Missouri Western, 1993) is in his 13th season at ASU and carries a 124-197 record into Saturday’s contest.

ARKANSAS STATE VS. ULM SERIES
The Red Wolves lead the all-time series 17-13.
The series began in 1983 and the Warhawks won the first seven meetings. ASU answered with nine straight wins from Nov. 23, 1991 to Feb. 28, 2007. The Red Wolves won the season’s first meeting 71-58 on Jan. 20 in Jonesboro, Ark. ULM outscored ASU 36-25 in the second half in that contest.

WARHAWK TO WATCH
Junior guard Alexar Tugler collected a career-high 20 points, 18 of which came in the second half on Thursday night against North Texas. The performance topped a 19-point output against the Mean Green a season ago. Tugler also handed out six assists and finished with four steals

LAST SIX
The Maroon & Gold are 4-2 in its last six games. ULM has averaged 74.2 points per game while shooting 46%. Alexar Tugler has averaged 14.0 points and 3.7 assists per game. Ashleigh Simmons is scoring 12.0 points per game pulling down 8.3 rebounds per game. Jasmine Shaw is averaging 13.5 points per game.

LAST TIME OUT
ULM (7-17, 5-10) led at half and with 10 seconds left in the game but an untimely missed free throw led to a Loryn Goodwin three-pointer and a 76-75 North Texas (10-15, 9-7) win on Thursday night. Alexar Tugler finished with a career-high 20 points but her half court prayer went unanswered as it just missed off the back of the rim to give the Mean Green its ninth Sun Belt win. Other notable Warhawk performances belonged to Jasmine Shaw with 14 points, Elexar Tugler and Alayshia Hunter finished with 12 while Ashleigh Simmons chipped in seven and pulled down 10 boards. The 10 North Texas three-pointers was a season-high against ULM. Goodwin led the way with a career-high 28 points including a 7-for-12 performance from behind the arc and 14 rebounds. Alexis Hyder matched her career-high with 23 points.

NCAA REGIONAL REMATCH
ULM, Northeast Louisiana at the time, and Texas met in the second round of the 1984 NCAA Tournament played in Ruston, La. after a 78-73 win over Kansas State in the opening round. Texas won the game 99-91 behind Andrea Lloyd’s 29 and Fran Harris’ 26 points. NLU was led by 36 from the program’s all-time leading scorer, Lisa Ingram, who poured in 36 points and pulled down 14 boards. Coach Ok, E.J. Lee at the time, had 17 points and 15 assists. The Lady Indians ended the season 23-4 and made the Final Four the following season, losing to eventual champion Old Dominion inside the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas, 57-47.

SUN BELT CHANGES
This season, the Sun Belt schedule structure will change as Denver exits to join the WAC, leaving the Sun Belt with 10 members. Each team will play 20 SBC games, twice against each member. The Sun Belt will change again in 2013-14 as Georgia State, UT-Arlington and Texas State join the league. Middle Tennessee, FIU, Florida Atlantic and North Texas also have left for Conference USA.

DOUBLE-DOUBLES
Ashleigh Simmons turned in a double-double at Nicholls State with 22 points and 12 rebounds, both career-highs. It was the first double-double for the Warhawks since Larrie Williams at Northwestern State (12/21/11) and Simmons is now the second player on the roster to accomplish the feat. Alexar Tugler did it with 18 points and 10 rebounds in the same game as Williams. Jasmine Shaw turned in the second double-double performance of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds at Tennessee Tech, her first career double-double. Simmons did it again against Florida Atlantic with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Simmons picked up her third such performance against Middle Tennessee with 15 points and 10 rebounds in 22 minutes. Simmons went back-to-back at South Alabama with 14 points and a career-high 13 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season. Simmons did it again, for the fifth time at FAU, with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Alexar Tugler also got in on the act for the first time this season with 19 points and 10 rebounds. For the sixth time this season, Simmons collected a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds at UL-Lafayette.

WARHAWK NEWCOMERS
The ULM roster well welcome three newcomers for the 2012-13 season. Alayshia Hunter, Ashley Aune and Jasmine Taylor will wear Maroon & Gold for the the first time. Hunter joins the team out of Killeen, Texas and Ellison High School where she was an All-State selection in 2011 and 2012. Aune is from Church Point, La. and Sacred Heart High School where she finished her prep career with 1,158 points. Taylor is from Denton, Texas and Denton High School where she averaged 14.0 points per game and was a First Team All-District selection. All three made their debut at SFA.

SUN BELT IN POSTSEASON
Four Sun Belt teams played in postseason tournaments in 2011-12. UALR won the league’s automatic bid by winning the Sun Belt Championship, 71-70, in overtime against Middle Tennessee. The Trojans fell in the first round to three seed Delaware, 73-42. Middle Tennessee also made the tournament as an at-large team and lost to seven seed Vanderbilt, 60-46. Both FIU and Florida Atlantic appeared in the WNIT and combined for a 1-2 record with the Panthers defeating Stetson, 75-47. The Sun Belt has 64 total NCAA Tournament wins including a national championship (Old Dominion, 1985) and has sent at least two teams to the NCAA Tournament four out of the last six years, including the last two seasons.

SEASON SWEEP
With the 79-74 win over Troy on Jan. 26, ULM swept the regular season series versus Troy. The Warhawks won the first meeting , 75-69. Those are the most and second most points ULM has scored this season. The Maroon & Gold did not sweep and SBC opponent last year but did do it three times in 2010-11 over North Texas, Arkansas State and UL-Lafayette.

BALANCED ATTACK
The roster may have just have three double-digit scorers but ULM makes up for that with scoring depth. Seven Warhawks have led the team in scoring this season and this balanced attack was highlighted by the win at Troy. Five players scored in double-figures for the first time since Feb. 18, 2002 and the 10th time in program history. Elexar Tugler had 13, Jasmine Shaw and Alexar Tugler scored 12, Ashleigh Simmons poured in 11 while Jae Shin chipped in 10. The Warhawks accomplished the feat again at FAU on Jan. 30 for the 11th time in program history as Alexar and Elexar Tugler led the way with 19, Simmons with 14, Christina Gray scored 12 while Alayshia Hunter chipped in 11.

MILESTONES
Head Coach Mona Martin coached her 500th game at UALR on Dec. 1. The Warhawk program collected its 600th all-time victory on Saturday at FIU. Martin needs one win for 250 career victories. ULM is three home wins away from 300 inside Fant-Ewing Coliseum. The win against Troy on Jan. 26 was the program’s 50th Sun Belt victory.

ULM & KOMEN FOR THE CURE
ULM student-athletes and coaching staff have teamed up again with Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s fundraising efforts. The team spent a weekend in the summer at the Pecanland Mall promoting the 19th Annual Northeast Louisiana Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, which took place Sept. 29 at Forsythe Park in Monroe. In addition, the team handed out brochures promoting the event as well the Nov. 3 football game against UL-Lafayette. Tickets to that game were sold at the race for $10, with a portion of the proceeds going to breast cancer research. That football game will be a Pink Out and fans were encouraged to wear pink in recognition of those impacted by breast cancer. Both basketball programs will hold its annual “Pink Game” on March 2 with UL-Lafayette visits Monroe.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL REUNION
The ULM Women’s Basketball family held a reunion on Oct. 26-27. Events included a party at the ULM SUB Ballroom, an “Old Timers Game” and a Tailgate Party prior to the football game against South Alabama. Notable returnees included former coaches Linda Harper and Roger Stockton and nearly 50 former players including the program’s all-time leading scorer Lisa Ingram.

FOLLOWING THE WARHAWKS
Fans can follow along with Warhawk Women’s Basketball several ways. Live audio and video are available for select home contests on ULMWarhawks.com via subscription. Select ULM Women’s Basketball games will be aired on either 1680 AM or 105.3 FM with the voice of Warhawk basketball, Nick White. Follow ULM Athletics on Twitter on @ULMWarhawks and on Facebook at ULM Warhawks.

UP NEXT
ULM make its final road trip of the regular season with games at Western Kentucky on Feb. 20 and Middle Tennessee on Feb. 23.